Brady: State employee layoffs would depend on how budget cuts are carried out

Tuesday

Oct 19, 2010 at 12:01 AMOct 19, 2010 at 7:23 PM

SPRINGFIELD -- Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady said Tuesday he doesn’t know how many state government employees would have to be laid off as part of his plan to cut 10 percent from the state budget if elected on Nov. 2.

CHRIS WETTERICH

SPRINGFIELD -- Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady said Tuesday he doesn’t know how many state government employees would have to be laid off as part of his plan to cut 10 percent from the state budget if elected on Nov. 2.

“It depends on how they’re (the cuts) implemented,” Brady said in a meeting with The (Springfield) State Journal-Register editorial board. “Some of them could come through attrition. Some of the cuts will come by reorganizing state government.

“Probably the largest area that I’ve talked about reducing what we do is the State Board of Education, a bureaucracy that I think has grown beyond its ability to assist and become more of a detriment.”

Asked whether the number of layoffs would number in the hundreds or thousands, Brady reiterated that he hopes that trimming the state workforce -- which already has the fewest employees per capita in the nation – can be done by not replacing workers who leave or retire.

He said a “business” audit of state government would help him trim. Brady has said in recent days that a 10 percent cut would erase roughly $4 billion in spending. The state’s budget deficit has been estimated at $13 billion. Brady acknowledged that some areas of the state’s $50 billion-plus in state spending, such as bond payments, cannot be cut.

An audit would take two to three months, Brady said. After a debate with Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday, Brady told reporters that 80 percent of state government could be audited during that time.

Brady reaffirmed his position that future pension benefits for state workers on the job today can be changed and that he wants to go to a 401(k)-style retirement system for state employees who are hired in the future.

“It has to be part of the discussion” of how to deal with state pension systems that are roughly $80 billion in the red, Brady said.

Brady defended his plan to include education spending in his proposal to cut state spending. Quinn has said Brady’s plan would cause 20,000 teachers to be laid off and force local school districts to increase property taxes.

“Education funding has doubled the pace of inflation over the last several years, according to numbers we’ve seen,” Brady said. “Everybody’s going to have to share in this. It doesn’t mean what Governor Quinn says, that teachers will be laid off. It doesn’t mean that property taxes will go up. It means that maybe the local level has to reconfigure what they’re doing.”

Brady said he hopes to reduce property taxes by taking 10 percent of future state revenue growth and depositing it into a fund that would be given to county treasurers. They would, in turn, reduce the amount school districts assess for property taxes.

Asked when that idea could be implemented, considering the lack of growth in state revenues, Brady conceded the state’s other problems would have to be dealt with first.

“We’re going to reconcile a plan to pay down the backlog of unpaid bills and balance the budget in the first year,” Brady said. “It would take a year to begin the plan.”

Chris Wetterich can be reached at 788-1523.

Quinn interview

Gov. Pat Quinn, the Democratic candidate for governor Nov. 2, is scheduled to meet with the editorial board of The (Springfield) State Journal-Register on Thursday.

“I believe civil unions are the same as gay marriage, and I don’t believe in gay marriage.”

*Why he will be able to convince House Speaker Michael Madigan to cooperate with a Republican governor when Madigan’s House hasn’t passed legislation proposed by Gov. Pat Quinn.

*“I don’t think Madigan has any respect for Quinn. He’s (Madigan) told him he (Quinn) won’t raise taxes and he (Quinn) won’t listen. He said it’s wrong to raise taxes.

“… Take the McCormick Place bill. We all, in a bipartisan way, negotiated in good faith to save McCormick Place, some difficult decisions, only to find Quinn sell out to a union for a large check and veto the bill. … Being the Republican nominee, I had some involvement in this -- we were able to save it by overriding Quinn’s veto and within three weeks, we signed $1 billion (in contracts).”

*Whether he would support the teaching of creationism in Illinois public schools.

“I would allow local school districts to choose the (creationism) curriculum … not as a science. I believe they should teach evolution.”

*Whether he would accept federal money for high-speed rail.

“I have a big problem with the federal government writing checks for political purposes that they don’t have the money to cover. But Illinois taxpayers have paid a lot of money into the federal government. And if there’s going to be a program that’s put in place, I will protect the interests of Illinois taxpayers.

“As you well know, I’m a large proponent of high-speed rail. I believe it’s part of our future. I’ll continue to push for that as a form of transportation that oftentimes is the only form of transportation for some of our citizens that’s available to travel distances